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This is it. Today we find out. Did the President hear us? Does the President stand with us? Do we retain our freedoms? Or did Big Tobacco get to the White House, too?

Good morning and hello Friday, July 6, 2012. Today, President Barack Obama continues his campaign bus tour in Ohio and Pennsylvania. There are reports that after he’s done this afternoon, he’ll amble back to the White House and sign the highway bill (HR4348) into law. In that highway bill is the poisonous, barbaric and corrupt attack on free enterprise, Section 100122.

Mr. President, we are the faceless fighting for our jobs. We are fighting for our freedom to roll our own smokes. We are American entrepreneurs and enterprising individuals fighting for our niche in the marketplace, to provide a service where no one else has succeeded. We are moms and dads, veterans and retired couples, people who’ve been laid off in a bad economy, and we’ve invested everything pursuing the American Dream.

President Obama, we call on you to do the right thing. When you see our signs today in Ohio and Pennsylvania “We Are Retailers, NOT Manufacturers,” know that we are talking directly to you. We require your action. This is the pressure moment. This is it. Do the right thing.

President Barack Obama and advisors: Please exercise your power to interpret SECTION 100122 of H.R.4348 as unconstitutional and an unbearable burden on a particular group of small businesses across the United States, and therefore you will instruct your Administration to avoid the unintended consequences of implementing this portion of the law, and work with Congress to find redress focused on a real solution to the perceived underlying issue.

SECTION 100122 of H.R.4348 is unconstitutional because it singles out one group of individuals for punishment. It arbitrarily reclassifies small retail tobacco shops as tobacco product “manufacturers” and by doing so it subjects them to an unbearable number of new taxes and regulations. This isn’t the closure of a perceived tax loophole; it’s the complete destruction of a legal business model that happened to be in competition with the biggest, multi-billion dollar corporations in the world. Our U.S. Constitution won’t stand for this. Article I, Section 9 specifically prohibits using the power of the Federal government to arbitrarily crush people or groups. But we need someone to raise their hand. We need someone to speak up. We must have a President willing to tell Congress, “I see what you did there…”

Warriors, at the end of this battle, no matter the outcome, we’ve learned and we’ve seen. We’ve learned who will stand with us next to the Constitution and we’ve seen what the other side is willing to do to buy a monopoly. Bloody as we are, we can gather ourselves out of the dirt and gravel, stand up, and say, THIS is our fight for freedom. We will continue.

Tell the President: “When you sign the highway bill H.R. 4348, please issue a signing statement to make Section 100122 null and void. It’s nothing more than a favor to the Big Tobacco companies, it will close my business and people will lose their jobs immediately! I’m a retailer, not a manufacturer. This isn’t good government. Please tell Congress you can’t in good conscience interpret Section 100122 as a fair way to conduct government.”

We’re a day away from when President Obama is expected to sign the final highway bill into law, the very bill that will force the closure of many small businesses all across the United States. For all our efforts so far, no one from the White House has told us “no” yet, so we are keeping hope alive and spreading the message that we are the target of an unconstitutional assault sponsored by Congress and underwritten by Big Tobacco.

Good morning, it’s Thursday, July 5, 2012 and I hope your Independence Day went well. Freedom isn’t free and many have already paid the ultimate price giving their lives so that we may breathe from within the cocoon of liberty. We are thankful, and ever obligated to keep fighting for our freedoms. Always.

Mr. President, we are the faceless fighting for our jobs. We are fighting for our freedom to roll our own. We are entrepreneurs and enterprising individuals fighting for our niche in the marketplace, to provide a service where no one else has succeeded. We are Americans pursuing the American Dream.

SECTION 100122 of H.R.4348 is unconstitutional because it singles out one group of individuals for punishment. It arbitrarily reclassifies small retail tobacco shops as tobacco product “manufacturers” and by doing so it subjects them to an unbearable number of new taxes and regulations. This isn’t the closure of a perceived tax loophole; it’s the complete destruction of a legal business model that happened to be in competition with the biggest, multi-billion dollar corporations in the world. Our U.S. Constitution won’t stand for this. Article I, Section 9 specifically prohibits using the power of the Federal government to arbitrarily crush people or groups. But we need someone to raise their hand. We need someone to speak up. We must have a President willing to tell Congress, “I see what you did there…”

President Barack Obama and advisors: Please exercise your power to interpret SECTION 100122 of H.R.4348 as unconstitutional and an unbearable burden on a particular group of small businesses across the United States, and therefore you will instruct your Administration to avoid the unintended consequences of implementing this portion of the law, and work with Congress to find redress focused on a real solution to the perceived underlying issue.

FACEBOOK: President Obama: Please exercise your signing statement power to interpret SECTION 100122 of H.R.4348 as unconstitutional and an unbearable burden on a particular group of small businesses across the United States, and therefore you will instruct your Administration to avoid the unintended consequences of implementing this portion of the law, and work with Congress to find redress focused on a real solution to the perceived underlying issue. SECTION 100122 of H.R.4348 is unconstitutional because it singles out one group of individuals for punishment. It arbitrarily reclassifies small retail tobacco shops as tobacco product “manufacturers” and by doing so it subjects them to an unbearable number of new taxes and regulations. This isn’t the closure of a perceived tax loophole; it’s the complete destruction of a legal business model that happened to be in competition with the biggest, multi-billion dollar corporations in the world. Our U.S. Constitution won’t stand for this. Article I, Section 9 specifically prohibits using the power of the Federal government to arbitrarily crush people or groups.

Tell the President: “When you sign the highway bill H.R. 4348, please issue a signing statement to make Section 100122 null and void. It’s nothing more than a favor to the Big Tobacco companies, it will close my business and people will lose their jobs immediately! I’m a retailer, not a manufacturer. This isn’t good government. Please tell Congress you can’t in good conscience interpret Section 100122 as a fair way to conduct government.”

Two hundred and thirty six years ago today, the people of this land had a vision to live with liberty from tyranny, independence from repression, and the ability to pursue prosperity unhindered by a brutal, egotistical regime bent on squeezing every last pound and six pence from its subjects. Things took awhile to get to the point of independence for Americans. The moment when the British began to realize things were getting out of control was when a shipment of tea to the colonies was instead dumped directly into Boston Harbor. The Sons of Liberty were protesting the British Empire’s taxation without representation and the tea monopoly held by the East India Company. Sound familiar?

Happy Independence Day! It’s Wednesday, July 4, 2012 and we are two days away from when President Obama is supposed to sign into law H.R.4348, the highway bill. Only, it’s not just a highway bill. It’s also a flood insurance bill, and a student loan interest rate bill, and a Big Tobacco bailout bill. We are asking the President of the United States to exercise his ability to include a signing statement along with HR4348 that makes VOID and NULL Section 100122, the provision that punishes one group of individuals for competing in the same marketplace as the Big Tobacco companies.

SECTION 100122 is unconstitutional under Article I, Section 9 of the U.S. Constitution because it singles out a single, law-abiding group and punitively forces their businesses to close because the bar for re-admission into the marketplace is arbitrarily set too high. SECTION 100122 will collect NO NEW TAXES because NO ONE, except for the Big Tobacco companies will be in the marketplace any longer.

OUR MISSION: Our mission is to be heard. If just one of the President’s senior advisors explains our case, we will have a real chance of getting them on our side. Twitter, Facebook, phone, petition. Call the White House and leave your comments (202)456-1111. Sign the online petition. Send the White House an email.

Phone Message: I am asking President Obama to issue a signing statement with HR4348 making Section 100122 void because it is unconstitutional and it punishes me and my business. Thank you.

Facebook Message: Mr. President, you have regularly used your signing statement authority to void, append, nullify and add interpretation to provisions of legislation forced upon you by Congress. Section 100122 of the highway bill headed to your desk is a clear violation of Article I Section 9 of the U.S. Constitution. As mentioned in this open letter to you yesterday, Congress certainly has the authority to regulate commerce, but it does not have the right to punish one group in order to arbitrarily grant monopolies to certain industries. Making the practices of small business competition illegal by virtue of setting the bar for entrance into the marketplace unnecessarily high is anti-competitive and a gross abuse of power. That is exactly what Congress engaged in by inserting language into the highway bill to arbitrarily and immediately reclassify small retail tobacco shops as “manufacturers” if they provide services allowing customers to roll their own tobacco cigarettes. This reclassification, according to the Congressional Budget Office, will force the immediate closure of more than 1,000 small businesses across the United States. THEREFORE, we respectfully request you use your signing statement powers to interpret Section 100122 as unconstitutional and unenforceable under your administration. Will you save my job and my freedom, Mr. President?

PHONE CAMPAIGN: Call the White House to leave a comment (202) 456-1111

Tell the President: “When you sign the highway bill H.R. 4348, please issue a signing statement to make Section 100122 null and void. It’s nothing more than a favor to the Big Tobacco companies, it will close my business and people will lose their jobs immediately! I’m a retailer, not a manufacturer. This isn’t good government. Please tell Congress you can’t in good conscience interpret Section 100122 as a fair way to conduct government.”

BE STRONG, BE PERSISTENT: We are on the right side of this argument. Even the anchors at CNN realize we are getting the stick right up our nose by those protecting Big Tobacco’s bottom line. Why else would Big Tobacco spend millions lobbying for this crappy anti-competitive provision?!

I know you’re busy. I know you’re angry and feeling betrayed. Me too, but never let it be said we didn’t try. Get online and let them know we want our independence.

Exactly WHO is responsible for teaching phone manners at the White House? When a person calls the White House to express his or her opinion about something, there’s a pretty good chance that “something” is very important to them. Hey, we all have pressures in our lives. It just so happens we are pressuring the President to preserve freedom!

Good morning and welcome to Tuesday, July 3, 2012! Just so you know, the White House comment line is usually staffed by college interns. They’re SUPPOSED to be kind, courteous and polite. They receive calls and they’re supposed to record the topic you’re calling about and the region from where the call came. The one thing EVERY intern is told is, “These are Americans from every walk of life, every state in the union, every political party, and they are concerned enough about something to call the most powerful office in the world. Be nice, because we work for them.”

Phone Message: I am asking President Obama to issue a signing statement with HR4348 making Section 100122 void because it is unconstitutional and it punishes me and my business. Thank you.

Facebook Message: Mr. President, you have regularly used your signing statement authority to void, append, nullify and add interpretation to provisions of legislation forced upon you by Congress. Section 100122 of the highway bill headed to your desk is a clear violation of Article I Section 9 of the U.S. Constitution. As mentioned in this open letter to you yesterday, Congress certainly has the authority to regulate commerce, but it does not have the right to punish one group in order to arbitrarily grant monopolies to certain industries. Making the practices of small business competition illegal by virtue of setting the bar for entrance into the marketplace unnecessarily high is anti-competitive and a gross abuse of power. That is exactly what Congress engaged in by inserting language into the highway bill to arbitrarily and immediately reclassify small retail tobacco shops as “manufacturers” if they provide services allowing customers to roll their own tobacco cigarettes. This reclassification, according to the Congressional Budget Office, will force the immediate closure of more than 1,000 small businesses across the United States. THEREFORE, we respectfully request you use your signing statement powers to interpret Section 100122 as unconstitutional and unenforceable under your administration. Will you save my job and my freedom, Mr. President?

We know you have a lot on your plate, Mr. President. But which freedoms are too small to defend? Who will defend us against unconstitutional attacks launched by the corrupt in Congress? How will our children view a government which acts to protect special interests at the expense of the people?

Warriors, this has been quite the journey. We are nearing the finish line. Tomorrow is Independence Day. A day to celebrate our freedom from tyranny. Let’s keep our spirits high, our voices raised, and our fingers typing because while they might not agree with us, they swore an oath to defend the Constitution. Tell them. Keep telling them. Never let them stop hearing us.

Tell the President: “When you sign the highway bill H.R. 4348, please issue a signing statement to make Section 100122 null and void. It’s nothing more than a favor to the Big Tobacco companies, it will close my business and people will lose their jobs immediately! I’m a retailer, not a manufacturer. This isn’t good government. Please tell Congress you can’t in good conscience interpret Section 100122 as a fair way to conduct government.”

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

Dear President Obama,

We write to call your attention to an unconstitutional and economically harmful provision contained in the recently approved 2012 highway bill (H.R.4348), and to ask you to bring relief to the thousands of small business owners and employees who will suffer immediately on its enactment.

Section 100122 of H.R.4348 amounts to an arbitrary punishment of one specific group of people, and therefore is in violation of Article I, Section 9 of the U.S. Constitution prohibiting the legislative branch of our government from passing bills of attainder.

“Bills of attainder, ex post facto laws, and laws impairing the obligations of contracts, are contrary to the first principles of the social compact, and to every principle of sound legislation. … The sober people of America are weary of the fluctuating policy which has directed the public councils. They have seen with regret and indignation that sudden changes and legislative interferences, in cases affecting personal rights, become jobs in the hands of enterprising and influential speculators, and snares to the more-industrious and less-informed part of the community.” James Madison, Federalist Number 44, 1788.

Mr. President, Congress certainly has the authority to regulate commerce, but it does not have the right to arbitrarily grant monopolies to certain industries by making the practices of smaller competition illegal by virtue of setting the bar for entrance into the marketplace unnecessarily high. That is exactly what Congress did by inserting language arbitrarily and immediately reclassifying small retail tobacco shops as “manufacturers” if they provide services allowing customers to roll their own tobacco cigarettes. This reclassification, according to the Congressional Budget Office, will force the immediate closure of more than 1,000 small businesses across the United States.

THEREFORE, we respectfully request you use the signing statement powers you have exercised on several occasions to interpret Section 100122 as unconstitutional and unenforceable under your administration.

Mr. President, you might agree that Congress, in search of solutions to perceived problems, often times creates legislation that exacerbate a situation they intended to solve. This is certainly the case with Section 100122 and we plead with you to provide immediate relief. Indeed, such action by you would be appreciated by many in Congress, given their frequent rhetoric about creating jobs and improving the economy.

The offending section:

SEC. 100122. ROLL-YOUR-OWN CIGARETTE MACHINES.

(a) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (d) of section 5702 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the following new flush sentence: ‘‘Such term shall include any person who for commercial purposes makes available for consumer use (including such consumer’s personal consumption or use under paragraph (1)) a machine capable of making cigarettes, cigars, or other tobacco products. A person making such a machine available for consumer use shall be deemed the person making the removal as defined by subsection (j) with respect to any tobacco products manufactured by such machine. A person who sells a machine directly to a consumer at retail for a consumer’s personal home use is not making a machine available for commercial purposes if such machine is not used at a retail premises and is designed to produce tobacco products only in personal use quantities.’’.

(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by this section shall apply to articles removed after the date of the enactment of this Act.

Thank you.

Signed: George Renome and friends…

GOOD MORNING Warriors! It’s Monday, July 2, 2012 and we’re hanging on to our freedom to roll our own smokes by a thread. We are asking the President to undo Section 100122 of the highway bill because it’s an assault on one specific group. We are certainly not lawyers or constitutional scholars, but we do know when something has gone rotten.

Section 100122 of the 2012 highway bill is unconstitutional. It picks winners and losers. It’s an arbitrary abuse of the Federal government’s power to tax and regulate commerce. We want this provision made NULL and VOID.

We have one chance. We are asking the President of the United States to defend us from Big Tobacco’s assault.

GOOD MORNING! It’s Sunday, July 1, 2012. July, already?! Yes. We are focused on the slim but REAL chance we can speak to the White House about the unfair and horribly fraudulent Big Tobacco bailout in the highway bill. Section 100122 of the highway bill is an arbitrary and immediate reclassification of small retail tobacco shops. It reclassifies these shops as “manufacturers” and sends them immediately to the unemployment line because there’s basically NO WAY they can qualify for manufacturer status. The Congressional Budget Office has already found that the effect of this provision is NOT to collect tax dollars from small shops; it is a provision that will CLOSE these small shops and FORCE them to close.

This was a provision written, bought, and paid for by the Big Tobacco companies. It’s an overreach of the power vested in Congress. It’s a fraud on free enterprise and we want it made NULL and VOID. President Obama has the power to help us. He can issue a signing statement when he signs the highway bill that says something like:

“Regarding Section 100122, I have concluded it is an inappropriate use of Federal powers to ‘reclassify’ retail establishments as manufacturers in such an immediate and arbitrary manner. I understand the authors of this provision seek to close a perceived tax code loophole, but this remedy is far beyond what is required to address this issue and creates the real and immediate potential for severe unintended economic consequences. I will instruct my Administration to work with the Congress in remedying this situation as expeditiously as possible.”

Mr. President, people across the United States will lose their jobs next week because of Congress and Big Tobacco. Please act to protect jobs.

I got involved in this fight because I like to smoke my own custom blend. The Big Tobacco companies produce a product I don’t like, so I roll my own. Every week, I head down to the local tobacco shop, pull out my favorite blend (spicy pear), and roll my own smokes. Now, Congress and the Big Tobacco companies have colluded to foreclose on my freedom to roll my own. I don’t understand. How is it that something that’s been around since the Egyptians first figured out how to roll smokes, is now being outlawed by the United States Government? Please, Mr. President. Please help us fight this unfair assault on freedom, and Big Tobacco’s attempt to solidify their monopoly.

Are you one of the masses not yet on Facebook or unwilling to Twitter? You can still make HUGE and valuable contributions by using traditional methods to spread our message! Call them. Email them. Use this link for their contact information forms:

Tell the President: “When you sign the highway bill, please issue a signing statement to make Section 100122 null and void. It’s nothing more than a favor to the Big Tobacco companies, it will close my business and people will lose their jobs immediately! I’m a retailer, not a manufacturer. This isn’t good government. Please tell Congress you can’t in good conscience interpret Section 100122 as a fair way to conduct government.”

When tyrants step on our tired and wounded bodies, we do not shrink. We grab their foot, twist their ankle, and push them off balance so we can regain ours.

We are taking our fight to the White House.

GOOD AFTERNOON! It’s Saturday, June 30, 2012, and after a few hours of cursing and sulking about Congress’s bastardization of government, I’m filing an update laced with hope.

As you might know, the White House is NOT able to sign the highway bill, yet. Congress stuffed so much stuff in the bill, the evil dwarves on Capitol Hill are still putting the final touches on the bill before they send it to 1600 Penn. Consequently, President Obama was forced to sign a ONE WEEK extension of current law while he waits for the new bill. The new bill contains that POISON provision that will stop all RYO operations indefinitely, and now it appears that bill won’t be signed into law until July 6.

SO, between now and then we still have our freedom to roll our own AND we have a new target. We are asking President Obama to save us.

The President does NOT have the authority to “line item” veto stuff. The White House lost that authority in 1998 when the U.S. Supreme Court took it away. BUT, the President CAN issue a “signing statement” along with the bill he signs into law. That means he can write little notes on the new law that say things like, “I don’t like this provision, so the way I interpret it means I’m not going to enforce it,” and stuff like that.

This is our last chance before the bill becomes law. The President will not veto this massive bill because it contains 95% of what he wants. We’re going to tell him we are part of the 5% he must disavow in the signing statement.

Presidents have the power, and have exercised this power, to attach “signing statements” to bills they sign into law. It alerts Congress to which provisions he interprets as a violation of his constitutional authority as the chief of the executive branch of government.

Get ready warriors. We have to be great in numbers and very loud. The target list is much smaller now, so the number of people involved in this effort on our side is going to be critically important.

TARGETS: Watch http://TaxTracker.wordpress.com for George’s updates on who and how to target. In the meantime, post on Facebook accounts for the White House. Send several messages by posting on their different posts. If they post a news release, “comment” on that. If they post a picture, “comment” on that. If they respond to you, respond right back.

I found the following on Facebook a few minutes ago and wanted to share!

BEGIN QUOTED TEXT

URGENT UPDATE! Attention RYO Filling Station Owners/ Customers! Our legal team has learned that President Obama has signed an extension on the OLD Highway bill to ensure the road projects continue nationally. The NEW bill that eliminates legal operation of our industry has not been typed yet and isn’t ready to sign. What does this mean? We at RYO Machine will continue operating until Friday, July 6th and our retailers may do the same.
This is a welcome surprise to all of us. Keep watching this page for more updates.

END QUOTED TEXT

A brief reprieve caused by the enormous gears of our bureaucratic (and sometimes dishonest) government! Wouldn’t it be nice if we could find something else to delay the bastards again in the next few days? Wouldn’t that be something… I’ll post any further updates I receive. Go roll!

Well, they did it. Today, both houses of Congress passed the highway bill containing the poison pill for people who like to roll their own smokes. Effective Saturday night at midnight, this piece of the American Dream is foreclosed upon. Thank you Big Tobacco, for helping open our eyes to the ways of Washington, the ways of corrupt government, and what it takes to buy a monopoly.

To those who’ve faithfully followed this issue and done so much great work to fight this Big Tobacco favor, I encourage you to keep fighting. Keep hope alive, and think about running for public office! You’ve seen first hand how people get screwed over by the Federal government. Make a difference and get involved in local, state, federal politics and make a difference!

As I have said to so many of you, we are on the right side of this matter. Every freedom is worth defending. We will encounter roadblocks, but with strength and persistence, we can overcome them. This is a significant setback and will cause hardship for many. But believe in and keep looking for a solution.

I will send along any updates I receive, and if you hear something good just comment here or email me: g.renome5 (AT) gmail.com

Hello and welcome to Friday, June 28, 2012. We’ve been in the trenches for a while now and we have fought with honor and integrity. My hats are off to all of you.

I started this blog because I found out about a dirty move by the Big Tobacco companies to shut down the “roll your own” industry using Congress to “reclassify” small retail tobacco shops as manufacturers, heaping suffocating new taxes and regulations on them. Well, the Big Tobacco companies spent a few million dollars, hired a few dozen lobbyists, and canvassed Capitol Hill spreading cash in the form of campaign contributions on lawmakers. Money talks. Big Tobacco succeeded in getting their provision in the highway bill, and under the rules of the House and Senate, the provision cannot be stripped out of the final conference report bill. Our ONLY chance now is to see the demise of the highway/student loans/flood insurance/debt accumulating bill. Kill the bill.

“The transportation portion authorizes $53.3 billion per year in spending, $15 billion more per year than the plan proposed by House Republicans last July, which would have successfully “realigned” spending with revenues coming into the federal Highway Trust Fund (HTF). According to the most recent estimates, spending will outpace HTF revenues by nearly $16 billion per year. Congress should make the transportation program live within its means unlike the disastrous 2005 transportation bill that resulted in tens of billions in general fund transfers.”

Club for Growth wants the bill dead. When the bill was still a few billion dollars smaller, the Club wrote:

“Supporters of the bill will claim that there are plenty of positive reforms in the bill, like no earmarks or enhancement projects, but it’s still a remarkably bloated and inefficient piece of legislation. True reform would devolve infrastructure building and maintenance back to the states and end or greatly reduce the federal gas tax.”

These conservative groups work to throw people out of office if they don’t stick to their principles. The lawmakers we’ve been talking to these last few weeks care about “key votes” and “conservative scoring” so let’s use that to our advantage. Spread the word that if they support the highway bill, their precious images will be tarnished.

OUR MISSION: Facebook and Twitter. Today and tomorrow, use these messages:

Message 1: @LawmakerXYZ VOTE NO on the highway bill! It’s bloated; it TAXES my #smallbiz out of existence! http://bit.ly/NewTax

As you fight today warriors, think of all our friends who valiantly stood up to Congress and Big Tobacco, and remember all those who sold us out. Remember the lies they told us as they were sticking their knives into our backs. And remember that no matter what, we will ultimately win. Our strength is our persistence.